1993–94 Football League First Division (1992-2004)

Football League First Division 1993-94
Season information
Winners	Crystal Palace
Promoted	Crystal Palace Nottingham Forest Leicester City
Relegated	Birmingham City, Oxford United, Peterborough United
Season statistics
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1450
← 1992-93	1994-95 →

Following relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 1992-93 season, Crystal Palace earned an immediate return to the top flight by finishing champions of Division One with 90 points in their first season under manager Alan Smith. Their nearest rivals, Nottingham Forest, newly relegated and also with a new manager in Frank Clark, finished runners-up on 83 points.

After losing in the previous two playoff finals and on all of their six previous visits to Wembley, Leicester City finally won a Wembley final at the seventh attempt by beating local rivals Derby County in the Division One playoff final to end their seven-year absence from the top flight. Leicester's semi-final opponents Tranmere lost at this stage of the playoffs for a second successive season, also suffering defeat in the League Cup semi-finals. Third placed Millwall were defeated by Derby in the other semi-finals.

Four months after resigning as England manager, Graham Taylor succeeded long-serving Graham Turner as manager of a Wolves side who just fell short of the playoffs. Middlesbrough, another side who missed out on the playoffs, prepared for a promotion push in 1994-95 by appointing former Manchester United and England captain Bryan Robson as player-manager following the resignation of Lennie Lawrence at the end of the season.

At the other end of the table, Peterborough United's second season in Division One ended in relegation when they finished bottom of the table. Oxford United, who lost manager Brian Horton to Manchester City a few games into the season, were unable to avoid relegation under new manager Denis Smith, while the last relegation place went to Birmingham City, who were edged into the bottom three by local rivals West Bromwich Albion.

Promotion and relegation

Start of season

Teams promoted to Premier League 1993-94

• Crystal Palace
• Nottingham Forest
• Leicester City

Teams promoted from Second Division 1992-93

• Reading
• Port Vale
• Burnley

End of season

Teams relegated from Premier League 1993-94

• Sheffield United
• Oldham Athletic
• Swindon Town

Teams relegated to Second Division 1994-95

• Birmingham City
• Oxford United
• Peterborough United

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GD		Pts	Notes
1	Crystal Palace	46		16	4	3	39	18		11	5	7	34	28		73	46	+27		90
2	Nottingham Forest	46		12	9	2	38	22		11	5	7	36	27		74	49	+25		83
3	Millwall	46		14	8	1	36	17		5	9	9	22	32		58	49	+9		74
4	Leicester City	46		11	9	3	45	30		8	7	8	27	29		72	59	+13		73
5	Tranmere Rovers	46		15	3	5	48	23		6	6	11	21	30		69	53	+16		72
6	Derby County	46		15	3	5	44	25		5	8	10	29	43		73	68	+5		71
7	Notts County	46		16	3	4	43	26		4	5	14	22	43		65	69	–4		68
8	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46		10	10	3	34	19		7	7	9	26	28		60	47	+13		68
9	Middlesbrough	46		12	6	5	40	19		6	7	10	26	35		66	54	+12		67
10	Stoke City	46		14	4	5	35	19		4	9	10	22	40		57	59	–2		67
11	Charlton Athletic	46		14	3	6	39	22		5	5	13	22	36		61	58	+3		65
12	Sunderland	46		14	2	7	35	22		5	6	12	19	35		54	57	–3		65
13	Bristol City	46		11	7	5	27	18		5	9	9	20	32		47	50	–3		64
14	Bolton Wanderers	46		10	8	5	40	31		5	6	12	23	33		63	64	–1		59
15	Southend United	46		10	5	8	34	28		7	3	13	29	39		63	67	–4		59
16	Grimsby Town	46		7	14	2	26	16		6	6	11	26	31		52	47	+5		59
17	Portsmouth	46		10	6	7	29	22		5	7	11	23	36		52	58	–6		58
18	Barnsley	46		9	3	11	25	26		7	4	12	30	41		55	67	–12		55
19	Watford	46		10	5	8	39	35		5	4	14	27	45		66	80	–24		54
20	Luton Town	46		12	4	7	38	25		2	7	14	18	35		56	60	–4		53
21	West Bromwich Albion	46		9	7	7	38	31		4	5	14	22	38		60	69	–9		51
22	Birmingham City	46		9	7	7	28	29		4	5	14	24	40		52	69	–17		51
23	Oxford United	46		10	5	8	33	33		3	5	15	21	42		54	75	–21		49
24	Peterborough United	46		6	9	8	31	30		2	4	17	17	46		48	76	–28		37

• Pld = Matches ; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Play-offs

		Semifinals				Finals
	6	Derby County	2 3 (5)
	4	Millwall	0 1 (1)
						6	Derby County	1
						4	Leicester City	2
	5	Tranmere Rovers	0 1 (1)
	4	Leicester City	0 2 (2)